Annabelle Serendipity: Craft market

Craft Market Goodies

The Maltings

Farnham Town

Farnham: where to eat, shop and visit (Photo: John Miller)

Farnham Town Centre
Via Surrey Life

Farnham is an historic, beautiful old town about an hour's drive outside of London. It is situated in the Surrey countryside and is old fashioned, quaint and a very desirable place to live. The wonderful Georgian architecture sits mostly within the shadows of the Farnham Castle, which was originally built by the grandson of William The Conqueror. The Maltings is situated in the town centre and was originally a brewery but has now for several years been the creative hub of the Surrey countryside. Music, art, and theatre events take place here and also, monthly, a market, which consists of antiques, crafts, arts and foodstuffs. Outside in the carpark is an open air market selling mostly bric a brac. It is a wonderful place to visit and the surrounding town is full of charming shops, boutiques, cafe's and bars.

The Maltings

Some interesting knitted necklaces

Inside this huge, rambling building were some delightful things for sale. A stall with knitted necklaces really caught my eye. Some were in silks and satins, and some very beautiful ones in wool knitted in a very lacy design. The green one was lovely - sadly I left it behind. The craft stall was called Elephant Silks and was a family affair with mother, son, and daughter-in-law all contributing to the beautiful things on sale.

And some in silks and satins in glorious colours

My very favourite stall was run by Pretty Penny, which had the most amazing knitted items, many of them in the wonderful colours of Japanese Noro yarns. The bags, hats and scarfs were delightful and I wanted them all. Sadly she has no website, which is a shame as her crafts were totally beautiful and desirable and very reasonably priced.

Here is Pretty Penny with her wonderful goods

These wonderful scarves in Noro were soft and delectable

I bought this stunning shawl for me, me, me!

And this lovely scarf in Noro as a gift

The Maltings is a series of little rooms situated on four floors and is a labyrinth too complicated to fathom. There are many varied and different crafts and the place was totally crowded - far too much to take photos. In one hall I found a wonderful lady who made gorgous things from vintage and recycled fabrics. Used To Bees had some of my favourite pieces on her stall and I shall certainly be back to visit her as she was a girl after my own heart. Her little felt houses and vintage book covers, (complete with vintage books), were adorable. Meanwhile I bought some little beauties ...

This lovely set of hand embroidered napkins

I loved the embroidery - each slightly different

These lovely napkins are destined to be something completely different, although I am not sure just yet what they will be! And of course I really needed another needlebook!

There are never too many cute needlebooks!

And outside among the bric a brac I found this lovely pair of hand knitted socks - given by an anonymous donor - they are lovely and soft and just the right size.

Thank you anonymous!

Afternoon tea was taken at The Vintage Cake House , which is a delightful tea shop full of old fashioned loveliness and great tea and cakes. The staff are all dressed in twenties flapper costumes and the background music is a delightful selection of twenties tunes. I loved the old fashioned floral bone china and the quaint background - sadly again it was very crowded and it was impossible to photograph. They have a page on Facebook, which will tell you more about it and perhaps give you some idea of the nostalgic cafe. There is also a lovely blog available, which you can find here.